(Untitled)

[twoeyesonthesky]

Quinn's gathered up his handful of things from the Bar in general, and requested some writing paper and a pen. He's going to head home tonight, and he's got a very real feeling that it'll be for the last time. There are people he owes messages to. Veronica, Hero, Merriman Lyon, Naraht, Moiraine, others- all of them. He could've done the notes

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[watching_you]

When Veronica passes by, as she eventually does, she recognises Quinn by the slope of his shoulders as he bends over the table to write. This in itself piques her curiousity, but she takes the time to buy a steaming mug of coffee from the bar before approaching his table.

"Howdy, dragonslayer. Mind some company?"

[twoeyesonthesky]

"Ah, now, the only dragons that got killed around me were all killed by the giant robots," says Quinn, looking up with a smile. "Sure, sit down. hallo, Veronica. How've you been?"

[watching_you]

"I think you get points for being there," she insists, pulling out a chair.

"I've been pretty good. Though it weirds me out every time I come in here and it looks practically like winter outside," nodding towards the lake entrance, "when it's still summer back home."

[twoeyesonthesky]

"All right, if you insist," says Quinn.

"Summer, eh? Lucky you. Time's just been rolling on back home; we're coming up on winter now ourselves, as a matter of fact."

[watching_you]

"Well I wouldn't mind if the summer did just end already. It's been sort of a long one," she tells him, but it sounds more bored than anything.

"But mm, wow, first dragon-free winter. That's got to be a relief."

[twoeyesonthesky]

"It is, it really is," says Quinn. "The longest we've gone without an overflight before this's been three days. There's still younger dragons out there, but every time one of them starves or something, that's one dragon that isn't getting replaced... it's made all kinds of difference at the castle."

[watching_you]

"It's a brave new world," Veronica says, with a twist of grin. "Are you thinking of expanding, now that the threat's leaving? Move outside of the castle?"

[twoeyesonthesky]

"Once we've got the supplies, yeah," says Quinn. "There's still the old habit of not going anywhere without absolutely everything you're gonna need. No one much wants to expand until we can bring half a year's supplies with us, at least not so far."

[watching_you]

"Well, you'll get there," Veronica replies, confident.

"Is that what you're writing? Castle stuff?"

[twoeyesonthesky]

"Not really," says Quinn, looking down at the pages a moment, then up at Veronica. "More like... I get the feeling that the door's not gonna be opening to bring me here any more, after I go home. Thought I owed people some goodbyes, even if I never saw them again."

[watching_you]

That's going to take a second to process.

Okay, give it ten.

"I'm sorry, what?"

[twoeyesonthesky]

"I don't think I'm gonna be able to come back here, Veronica," Quinn says quietly. "I can't put my finger on it, but I got the feeling coming in here that this time was gonna be my last."

[watching_you]

Her fingers do a strange dance of indecisiveness across the table, tapping against her mug, the wood grain, her forehead. And yet her voice remains quite flat.

"I don't think I understand."

[twoeyesonthesky]

"My world always held onto me tighter than other people's," Quinn says. "It kept yanking me back without warning, to the point it'd grab other people and bring them with me. I think I've been here on purpose all of once. I don't quite know how to describe it, but I've had this ... hunch, I suppose... ever since I opened the door here... like if I walked anywhere near the door, or too far outside, or any of that? It'd grab me and I'd be at home and I'd never be able to come back here again."

[watching_you]

"But I don't see why--"

Visibly frustrated, "This is it? You're just going to walk out of here and never return? The end?"

[twoeyesonthesky]

"It's that or stay here forever and never return," Quinn says gently. "And I've got a whole castle waiting for me, a whole Household- that's what we're calling it now, we're organising properly and everything. If the door opens, sure, I'll take it, but if it doesn't open to me... Veronica, it's been a year since Optimus Prime and his friend killed the male. A full year. I haven't seen hide nor hair of the Milliways door in all that time whether I tried or not."